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David Madden addresses the removal of New Orleans monuments as state lawmakers take action to prevent future removals of statues of military icons. Madden is a former head of the U.S. Civil War Center at LSU.

The session’s first criminal justice reform bill is headed to the Senate floor. SB 16 by Dan Claitor addresses the problem of those previously sentenced to life without parole when they were juveniles.

Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson explained the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that penalty unconstitutional in several cases.

“This is – from my standpoint – one of the worst cases of Monday morning quarterbacking that I’ve ever seen,” former state Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham said Thursday.

Barham, who served as DWF Secretary throughout the Jindal administration, was on the defensive, responding to a legislative audit questioning several million dollars of the agency’s spending, primarily in the seafood testing program following the BP oil spill.

Louisiana has billions of taxpayer dollars tied up in thousands of contracts—for goods and services, consulting, privatization and more. Lawmakers, frustrated by the continuing battles to balance the state budget, are pushing to take a closer look at those contracts.